To back up to Google Drive:

If you don't have a Google account already set up, tap Add account when prompted.

Tap Back up over to choose the network you want to use for backup. Please note that backing up over a cellular data network might result in additional data charges.

Important notes about Google Drive:

WhatsApp backups no longer count towards the Google Drive storage quota. Furthermore, WhatsApp backups that haven't been updated in more than one year are automatically removed from Google Drive storage. To avoid the loss of any backups, we recommend you back up your WhatsApp data.

The first backup might take a while to complete. Please leave your phone connected to a power source.

You can change your chat backup frequency, the Google account you back up to and which connection to use for backup at any time by tapping More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup.

Every time you create a Google Drive backup using the same Google account, the previous Google Drive backup will be overwritten. There's no way to restore an older Google Drive backup.

Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive.

Restoring or transferring a backup

WhatsApp will ask you to restore your chats and media from a backup once you verify your number. Simply tap RESTORE when prompted to. If WhatsApp doesn't detect a backup, it could be because:

You aren't logged into the same Google account.

You aren't using the same phone number that was used to create the backup.

Your SD card or chat history is corrupted.

A backup file doesn't exist on the Google Drive account or locally on your phone.

Note: The easiest way to transfer data to a new phone is by using Google Drive. If you want to use a local backup, you'll need to transfer the files to the new phone using a computer, file explorer or SD Card. If your data isn't stored on the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder, you might see "internal storage" or "main storage" folders.

To restore a less recent local backup

Your phone will store up to the last seven days worth of local backup files. Google Drive will only have the most recent one. If you want to restore a local backup that isn't the most recent one, you'll need to do the following:

Download a file manager app.

In the file manager app, navigate to sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases. If your data isn't stored on the SD card, you might see "internal storage" or "main storage" instead of sdcard.

Rename the backup file you want to restore from msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 to msgstore.db.crypt12. It's possible that an earlier backup may be on an earlier protocol, such as crypt9 or crypt10. Don't change the number of the crypt extension.